1) We have actual pictures of atoms, both from electron microscopes and from an individual barium ion emitting a photon. This one seems to amaze the people I know, especially the nuts that say the existence of atoms isn't proven.

2) A lot of people read about matter waves and assume that matter is a wave, and thus picture an electron as a squiggle orbiting an atom. Most of the people I know were amazed when I explained that what behaves as a wave is the probability of observing that particle there, so an area where a matter wave has high amplitude it just means that particles are more likely to "appear" there.

3) Special relativity, or more specifically, length contractions. Most people know now that time is relative, even if they don't understand what that means. What most non-physics majors don't know is that length can actually contract. So a muon "lives" for about 2.2 microseconds. This isn't enough time for it to be generated at our atmosphere and make it to the Earth's surface, yet we observe them all the time. So what happens?

In the reference frame of an observer on Earth, the muon lives, not just appears to live but physically lives, for about 11 microseconds. In the frame of the muon, it lives for 2.2 microseconds, but the distance from the upper atmosphere to the Earth contracts, so to the muon time does not dilate, rather the distance it has to travel contracts. Many people also think that these are just allusions or how things seem to us, but these things actually physically happen. Someone at one point in spacetime can experience something totally different than what someone at another point in spacetime experiences.

edit: these don't necessarily have the largest wow-factor, but I think they are some of the things that are most difficult to believe/accept

Good examples, Gibby.
For me, it's the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. I firmly believe that I'm alive only because of the multiverse. There's no other way to explain it. In almost all branches of reality, I'm dead or never existed in the first place. It also means that I am essentially immortal, because in every instance of my death a new reality branches off, in which I survive. That new branch is the one that I currently inhabit. Trying to explain that to others is almost impossible. Since I'm not well educated, I don't even fully understand it myself. I suppose that it could be considered to be my version of religion.
That's my biggie for everyone in general. Since you specified "Facebook" clients (in the title, although not your original post), I can't really think of anything that wouldn't baffle them. Anyone who would join that site is pretty gullible to start with. Since most of them are young, I would propose the following:
>Someone 30 years old used to be considered a very revered elder of society. The average life expectancy was early to mid 20's.
>While veggies could be kept fairly well for a week or so, meat had to be killed freshly on a daily or bi-daily basis because it would rot if left longer.
>A cut on a finger or foot could be fatal because there were no antibiotics or disinfectants.
>Toilet paper is a new invention. My mother's family of 14 shared a Sears catalogue. (They lived in the house that I currently own and inhabit, but now it has indoor plumbing.) That was pretty recent. Long ago it was tree bark, moss, or nothing.
There is so much more, but I'll back off for now to see whether or not this is the kind of stuff to which you were referring.

One of the founders of facebook is giving up US citizenship and going to Singapore...
with a few other billionaires from the US....and around the world I would guess.....to save himself from Obama tax increases coming in 2013.

How does simply renouncing his citizenship allow him to avoid taxes? Facebook is a US company, isn't it?

No it's actually based in ireland, presumably for the lower corporate tax rate. After you renounce citizenship you can still be liable for taxes but the details are complicated, especially if he's being raced on the value of facebook before the ipo, which is difficult to calculate and leaves a lot of room for interpretation

One of the founders of facebook is giving up US citizenship and going to Singapore...
with a few other billionaires from the US....and around the world I would guess.....to save himself from Obama tax increases coming in 2013.

Yes, Eduardo Saverin is now a citizen of my country. I'd prefer it if he'd done it for a more noble reason than tax-dodging, but, whatever.

I don't see any reason why any facts listed herein, other than possibly Dangers, would need to be restricted to purely my generation and younger. MOST people would be amazed at anything to do with science. Assuming they believed it of course, which is another problem altogether.

I'm reminded of a story my buddy told me. He was doing a funeral for a veteran as part of the base Honor Guard when he overheard an old man saying something along the lines of "Maybe we wouldn't be having so many problems with the ozone layer if those spaceships weren't punching holes through it".

The first fax machine was patented in 1843
Lyon's Corner House (a chain of coffee shops) was at the cutting edge of commercial computing in 1951
The first coin operated vending machine was invented in the first century AD

Staff: Mentor

Re: Top 3 facts that would blow the facebook generation away???

Some big and some small numbers:
- It is possible to detect particles with a lifetime of 0.00000000000000000000001 (10^(-24)) seconds - and scientists can measure their average lifetime.
- It is possible to detect light which was emitted 13700000000 (13.7 billions) years ago
- Atomic clocks are so precise, they can measure that time passes quicker 1 meter above them (due to General Relativity). This difference is about 1 second in 300 million years.
- It is possible to measure the distance of the moon (more precise: the distance of retroreflectors installed during the Apollo missions) with an accuracy of some centimeters.
- In labs, temperatures from 10^(-10) to 10^18 K can be achieved.
- Gravitational wave detectors can measure length differences with a precision of 10^(-18)m, this is 0.001 of the diameter of a proton and about 0.00000001 of the diameter of an atom.
- about 10^15 proton-proton collisions were analyzed by the LHC detectors in 2011. If a human could do this within 1 second, you would need 30 million scientists non-stop to keep up with data-taking.
- it is possible to predict the relation between electron spin and energy with a relative uncertainty of ~0.0000000004 (4*10^(-10)), and measurements determined it with a relative uncertainty of 3*10^(-13), with agreement between both value. In other words: The theory prediction is 2,002319304 - and all 10 digits are correct.
- each second, about 10 billion neutrinos per cm^2 from the sun cross everything on earth. Everything, including you.
- about 100-1000 radioactive decays per second happen in every human

Random other interesting stuff:
- without quantum mechanics, you cannot (properly) explain why solid objects are solid
- effects from special relativity are responsible for ~99% of the mass of all everyday objects
- most cells in a human body are not human cells
- CERN in switzerland can measure the tides - check where it is, if that does not look surprising ;). In fact, it is necessary to adjust the accelerators accordingly.

In almost all branches of reality, I'm dead or never existed in the first place.

But only in branches where you exist, you can think about this.

While it is true that life expectancy was quite low some centuries or millenia ago, the main reason was the high mortality during the first years. A human which survived up to 20 had a good probability to survive up to 40, too.